The startup just closed a fresh financing round worth $11.5 million,  led by existing investor Discovery Communications.

The Dodo is also boasting a new advisor in media queen Arianna Huffington.

Like BuzzFeed and other highly visual, socially steered properties, The Dodo is trying to find the right balance of serious and silly content.

Combining animal-rights activism with video of cats caught in paper bags attracted 15 million viewers in September, which represented growth of about 300% year-over-year.

The site is also now averaging nearly 100 million video views per month a month, most of which are occurring on mobile devices. In fact, 75% of the publisher’s traffic comes from mobile devices.

Dodo.com's audience also skews younger, but not to an extreme degree. Overall, 55% of its audience is millennial, between the ages of 18 and 34.

The Dodo’s co-founder and CEO is Izzie Lerer -- the daughter of Ken Lerer, managing director of Lerer Hippeau Ventures, which is officially credited with giving birth to the site. The elder Lerer also co-founded The Huffington Post and presently serves as BuzzFeed’s chairman.

The Dodo has an existing content and community-sharing partnership with Huffington Post.

Of note, The Dodo was the first media company built entirely on RebelMouse, a social-centric content platform. Discovery Digital is also working with RebelMouse to test new ways to distribute Discovery's content and community across social, mobile and Web channels.

Additional investment came from Softbank, SBNY -- formally Softbank Capital NY -- Berggruen Holdings, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Greycroft Partners and NBA Commissioner Emeritus David Stern.